The Trip
by Clawdiuzz
Summary: When the reapers are assigned to investigate a strange occurance, all seems to be just as they would expect until a careless accident causes them to crash into a mysterious forest. In a world where the time of day never changes and the heat plays tricks on the mind the reapers soon discover that there is more to this mission than they first thought. Some Violence, No pairings.
1. Chapter 1

_This story is ongoing and is also on Deviantart with the same name and username (Clawdiuzz)~ It's up to chapter 13 there for now and I'll add the rest here later ^^_

Silence filled the grand hall as the large reaper stepped up onto the stage at the front and addressed the reapers before him. In the front row were sat a rather relaxed looking blond with an extremely bored redhead to his left and a serious looking dark haired reaper next to him. Just next to that one sat yet another blond, but this one had a rougher appearance and was accompanied by an also somewhat serious looking reaper on his left. All of them faced the front as the one on the stage started to speak.

"Now, I'm sure you're probably all wondering why I have called such a large meeting here, which is something we don't normally do that often." He paused for a moment and looked around, surprised at the large amount of reapers that actually worked there; it had been a while since he'd seen them all together like this.

"The reason for this, is that we have recently received a notification that we are to expect a large number of souls in the surrounding area, the reason for which is still as of yet, unknown. As such, it is our duty as the London Division to provide an adequate number of reapers to deal with the situation to avoid any unnecessary complications and to reduce the risk of demons getting there first."

Grell, who had stopped listening a while ago, looked over at Ronald who also looked half asleep. "Does this guy ever stop talking?" he asked him, laughing slightly. He got slightly irritated when Ronald didn't answer and wondered why until he turned back around to find William staring at them with a look that could kill. "Do you ever listen?" he asked, gripping his scythe in a manner that suggested it would soon be used. Grell laughed nervously and faced the front again.

"...and this also means that you will perhaps be able to find out the cause of the soul increase, as well as being able to help assist the problem. Now, because of the danger and work involved, I will be assigning you in groups of two and three and dispatching each group to a different area. Before I do so, are there any volunteers who would be willing to help?"

Once again, it was Grell who looked around him and was surprised to see a few hands in the air. He was in the process of counting them when William grabbed his hair and forced him to face the front again. "Can't you just sit still and face the front?" He asked angrily.

Once the reaper at the front had finished speaking, he cleared his throat and spoke again. "Very well then, it seems nine of you have volunteered, so you will be placed in three groups of two and one group of three is that alright?" Murmurs of agreement filled the room as the nine volunteers proceeded to split themselves into groups. "Now, are there any more before I divide you myself? Obviously you can't ALL go, as we need some to remain here for the more daily matters, but-"

"WE'LL GO!" A voice called out suddenly, accompanied by Grell standing up and pulling Ronald with him. "Me and Ronald will go!"

"Are you crazy?!" Ronald asked, pulling himself free. "Why the hell would I want to go? Why would YOU want to go?"

"It'll be fun!" Grell said. "We'll finally get out of the office and away from paperwork! Besides, it's been ages since I had a fun assignment to do!"

"Very well then." Said the reaper in charge, despite Ronald's protests. "However..." He paused and regarded them closely. "You two are known to be two of the biggest morons in the entire division, and I do think you should have someone responsible with you also." He paused again and looked at William, who practically cried as he realised what was coming. "William, you are their supervisor, yes?"

"Yes..."

"And you deal with them on a daily basis, therefore knowing how to handle them, yes?"

William sighed. "Yes..."

"Right then, it's decided – you shall accompany them on the assignment."

"WHAT?!" Screamed Grell and Ronald in unison. "Please, you can't!" pled Grell. "If he comes, it'll be no different to working in the office! We might as well not go if he's there!" William looked slightly hurt by the fact that both Ronald and Grell appeared to hate him, but only slightly; he didn't exactly like them much either.

"That is quite enough, Sutcliff!" Shouted the reaper at the front, moving forward to yell in Grell's face and causing him to sit down again. "Who do you think you are to question my motives hm? Do you not think that with as high a status as I have that there is not some reasoning behind my decisions? Is that it, do you think you're better than me?!"

"Uh- I...um... I didn't-"

"Now we're answering back are we?! Right that's it, now you're definitely having William accompany you, AND I'm sending your group to one of the busiest areas we're expecting! I also want a full report of everything that happens in minute detail from all THREE of you!"

"Grell,, you idiot! This is all YOUR fault!" Said Ronald, glaring at Grell who was now cowering under the gaze of the man that stood above him.

"As for you two," said the now angry reaper, directing his gaze at Eric and Alan who sat to William's left, "I'm sending you off as well."

"What? Why?!" asked Eric angrily. "You know we can't go anywhere because of Alan's condition!"

"Don't worry, I'll ensure that you get sent to a quieter area. As for why you're going, I was considering sending you anyway, and have confirmed my choice as a way to emphasise that I take absolutely no nonsense from anyone; if one of you causes trouble, it affects you all and this is true for everyone." He said, looking at everyone sitting in the thousands of seats. He cleared his throat and stepped back. "As for the rest if you, I have a list of names here that I shall now read out..."

"I don't believe this..." grumbled Eric, turning to look at Alan and surprised to find that he was smiling. "What the heck are you smiling at?"

"Why are you so angry?" Alan asked, still smiling. "I think this'll be great! It's been far too long since I got to do something exciting like this!"

"But what about-"

"Screw the whole thorn thing! I'll be alright, I know I will! Besides, he said he would send us somewhere safe!"

"Are you sure?" Eric asked, shocked at Alan's eagerness to go. "If you want me to, I can have a word with the big guy up front..."

"Don't worry about it! Seriously, I'm looking forward to this. I was going to volunteer before, but I was worried about what you would say..."

"Tch... You don't need my approval for everything you know. You complain about wanting independence but you're always worried what I'll think..."

"I didn't want to cause a fuss..."

"What are you two whispering about over there?" Said Grell grumpily, leaning over William so he could hear what they were saying.

"Nothing to do with you, Sutcliff." Said Eric. "And I think you'd better get off Will before he MAKES you get off."

"For the last time..." William started, punching Grell in the face to get him off him. "...it's WILLIAM.

_Hope everyone here likes it~_

_Remember to check it out on DA because it's the only place I can reply to people... (I don't really get this site XD)_


	2. Chapter 2

_Again, there are more chapters on deviantart, I just feel like uploading a few here~_

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A few hours later, William, Grell and Ronald were sat in a carriage on the way to their assigned destination. As expected, they were rather disgruntled at being told they were to leave almost straightaway after they had just been told about it. Grell however, was now feeling a lot happier after being told that they would have to stay in tents throughout the duration of the assignment, and practically fainted from happiness when it was revealed that due to funding difficulties, they would all have to share one big tent together.

"I still can't believe they only gave us one tent." William said coldly as he stared out of the window at the passing landscape. When he had been told about the situation, he almost punched the man telling him this in the face, held back only by his desire to keep a professional manner.

"At least it's a big tent..." said Ronald who was sitting opposite and also staring out of the window. He had tried to act cool and nonchalant when he was told, trying to see the bright side of it, but screaming inside. The thought of sharing a tent with either of them was enough to make him want to stab himself, but BOTH of them in the same tent? It wasn't exactly as though he hated either of them much, but something just felt weird to him about having to sleep in the same small space as two other guys.

"Well I think it will be fun!" Said Grell happily. He was sitting next to Ronald because William had taken up the whole seat on the other side with his scythe.

"You would, wouldn't you." William retorted, finally turning to face the two reapers in front of him. "What happened to 'oh please don't make him come' and 'can't you stay here, William?' hm? It all changed when you heard about the tent, didn't it. This, Sutcliff, is exactly why I can't stand you anywhere near me."

"Jeeze William, you don't have to be THAT angry..." Ronald said, regretting it immediately when he saw William's hand go towards his scythe.

"I have every right to be angry," replied the dark-haired reaper. "I don't see how hard it could be to just provide two more tents."

Ronald thought for a moment. "They probably did it just because Grell pissed them off..." The two of them looked over at Grell, who had gotten much quieter after William's angry remark.

"Most likely," said William adjusting his glasses. "Since it is his fault, I think it seems only fair that Sutcliff should have to sleep outside and keep guard."

"Huh?!" Grell cried, looking to Ronald for backup and receiving none. "You can't just do that to me Will! ...Or..." he looked between them. "Perhaps you just want Ronald all to yourself~?"

"Eww, no way!" Ronald said, preparing to hit Grell himself if he had to.

"Sutcliff, please refrain from such suggestive and unprofessional remarks." William was starting to get annoyed, it was obvious. His eye had started to twitch slightly and he was frequently adjusting his glasses in a manner that suggested violence wasn't far off. Even Grell sensed his anger at last and muttered a quiet 'sorry' before looking out of the window again.

About half an hour later, another carriage drew up alongside theirs on Grell's side. He looked out and was surprised yet happy to find Eric and Alan in the other vehicle. "Hey look, it's Eric and Alan!" he said, trying you get the other two to share his excitement. "Hey guys! Hey!" his shouts were met by silence and it was obvious that Eric and Alan were ignoring him. "Maybe they just didn't see me..."

"Yo, Eric! Alan!" Ronald shouted, pushing Grell out of the way.

"Oh, hi Ronald!" Alan said cheerfully, leaning out of the window. "Fancy seeing your carriage here! Just luck I suppose hm?"

"Guess so!" Ronald replied happily. "Watch you don't fall out of the window now, it might hurt!"

"I'm not an idiot Ronald..."

"Ask them if they got two tents" William whispered to Ronald.

"Uh... Boss wants to know how many tents you got for some reason," enquired Ronald, much to Alan's confusion.

"Umm... Two I think. Pretty small though."

"Damn it Sutcliff..." William growled, glaring at Grell. "I told you this was your fault." Grell just nodded and stared out of the window, upset at being ignored by the others. William merely sighed in exasperation and made his way over to Ronald so he could converse with Eric and Alan.

Not long after, they came to a divide in the road, and while Eric and Alan's carriage turned right, the one containing the other three turned left and started to run parallel to a forest which, in the growing dark, looked rather foreboding. Once again, the three of them were looking out of the window, although there was not much to look at now.

"How long is this going to take?" Complained Grell. "It's getting dark out there, what if we can't set up our tent?"

"It doesn't matter since you'll be sleeping outside anyway." William replied. Grell was going to say something, but decided against it. William was just joking after all, surely? He had to be... As for Ronald, he was now sitting in a manner that suggested he could fall asleep at any moment. Maybe that wouldn't be such a bad idea, Grell thought, half lying down himself. "What are you doing, Sutcliff?" enquired William.

"Sleeping. Now leave me alone," replied the redhead before closing his eyes.

A few hours later, Grell opened his eyes to find that the carriage had stopped. He looked over and found that William and Ronald were both asleep, using their blazers as a form of blanket. Grell rubbed his eyes and looked outside, curious as to why the carriage had stopped moving. He considered waking the other two but decided he would look around outside first to check if they had arrived at their designated spot.

As he got out, he was surprised to find that the carriage driver was nowhere to be seen and the horses were just standing there, silent and motionless. He went up to one, about to stroke it when another carriage rushed past, almost hitting him and accompanied by frantic yells for help. Looking after it as it rushed away, he realised that that carriage also had no driver and seemed to be out of control. Quickly, he rushed back inside his own and shook William and Ronald awake, franticly trying to explain what had happened.

"Just calm down will you?!" William growled, angered at being woken up by a screaming idiot.

"I can't! I think those guys were in danger! For all we know, that carriage could belong to Eric and Alan!"

"So what if it did?" yawned Ronald. "It's not like we'd be able to do anything about it anyway... I mean, none of us even know how to control this thing."

"It doesn't matter, I'm sure we'd figure it out!" Grell said, still jumping up and down and looking in the direction of the runaway carriage.

"Shouldn't we be more concerned with where our own driver has gone?" William said, putting his jacket back on and fixing his glasses. "What if we suddenly run off and leave the poor fellow in the middle of nowhere?"

"But-" Grell looked into the distance again. "Oh to heck with it, if you two won't do something about it, then I will!" With that, he swung himself into the driver's seat and grabbed hold of the horses' reigns. "Uh... Hiyah!" he shouted to the horses, causing them to rush off.

"Sutcliff! What on earth do you think you're doing?!" William yelled out of the window while getting tossed about the much too fast moving carriage. "Are you insane? You'll get us all killed!"

"I don't care!" Grell shouted over the sounds of hooves and wheels, continuing to whip the horses. Eventually, he could see the other carriage in the distance. "There!" he said, pointing it out so the other two could see it.

"Now what?" Ronald said, also getting thrown about but remaining surprisingly calm about it.

"Now we catch up and see what we can do!" Grell replied and made the horse go even faster until they were soon running alongside the other vehicle. Now that he was closer, he saw that it was in fact Eric and Alan's carriage after all and the two of them were inside trying to figure out what to do.

"If you just let me go, I can try and stop it!" Eric was shouting.

"But you'll die if you climb out there!" Alan replied, trying to stop him from climbing out of the window. It wasn't long before they noticed Grell's presence. "Grell? Is that you?!" Alan cried happily, finally pulling Eric back and sticking his head out of the window.

"Yeah! What's happening here?!"

"I don't know! We just woke up and our driver was gone!" Eric shouted over the almost deafening noise. "We were going to get out, but the horses suddenly went crazy!"

"OK, hang on!" Grell said, trying to move closer so that they could perhaps jump over to the other carriage. "Do you think you'd be able to jump over here if I got a bit closer?" He asked, still trying to manoeuvre the horses.

"Are you crazy?!" Alan began "There's no way we'd be able to-"

"I think it's a great idea!" Eric said, moving to open the door.

"Eric, no!" Alan protested.

"Look, it's better than nothing isn't it?! At least you'll be safe that way!"

"And what about you?"

"I'm going to try and calm the horses!"

"You're an idiot!" Shouted Alan. "No way I'm jumping over there!"

Suddenly, William appeared at the door of his, Ronald and Grell's carriage. "Uh... I'd be able to help... if you want me to that is."

"Me too!" Said Ronald, also moving closer to the other carriage.

"Right, that settles it." Eric said, grabbing Alan and preparing to throw him across. Just as he was about to do so however, their carriage hit a rock in the road, and causing the wheel to snap and making it tip over on its side.

"NO!" Screamed Grell as the other vehicle was dragged along the floor, slowing down because of it and leaving Grell too far ahead to do anything. Quickly, he tried to slow the horses in order to go back, but found that they wouldn't listen.

"Damn it..." William muttered before suddenly opening the door of the carriage and standing on the edge looking behind them.

"...What are you doing?" Ronald asked, afraid of what the answer would be.

"If I jump now, I'll still be able to land on their carriage and try to stop the horses." He said, grabbing his scythe.

"What?! You can't-" it was too late. He had jumped. And now he was flying through the air towards the carriage that lay on its side, getting pulled along by frantic horses and falling to pieces as it did so.

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_If you're reading, THANKS! The story gets a lot more exciting in later parts~_


	3. Chapter 3

Inside the overturned carriage, Eric and Alan were struggling to avoid hitting the ground, clinging to anything they could grab and trying to find a way to stop it from moving. As it had tipped over, Alan's leg had gotten rammed against the side and he was now silently crying in pain as he realised that it was covered in blood. "Don't worry Alan..." Eric said, trying to calm him down "this will all be over soon, and we'll be able to get your leg fixed. It's probably just a scratch anyway..." Alan was just about to reply when the two of them heard a large thump above their heads and the sound of someone cursing that seemed to suddenly get farther away.

"What was that?" Alan asked worriedly, forgetting about his leg for a moment.

"I don't know..." replied Eric, still trying to get them both straightened up. Suddenly a head appeared in the broken window frame above their heads and called down.

"Just try to remain calm, everything will be alright."

"William!" Cried Alan happily as he realised who it was. "What are you-"

"Just stop talking and try not to fall while I attend to the horses..." said William. He had what looked like a cut on his forehead.

"What happened to your head?" Alan called.

"I miscalculated the distance and landed on the wheel which consequently resulted in me being almost thrown off and having to jam my scythe in the spokes in order to stay on. In the process of climbing up, a bit of stray wood hit me, that's all."

"How the heck did you jump over here?!" Eric asked. "The speed your carriage was going at-"

"Just leave it, alright? You two stay there, I'm going to see what I can do up the front."

"OK, but please hurry!" Alan shouted "I think I seriously hurt my leg! ...And Eric is heavy."

"Hey, if I move, we both fall ok?" Eric said grouchily; Alan was jammed beneath the seats, inches from the ground and as much as Eric was trying to keep somewhat afloat by holding onto the edges of the seat, he couldn't help but have to rely on poor Alan just a little to stop falling himself. "Besides, it's not exactly like I'm enjoying this awkward positioning..."

"From up here that sounds highly unprofessional." William said from above. Eric and Alan looked at each other in surprise – had William just made a somewhat joke? Perhaps that knock on the head had done him some good after all. Nonetheless, it made the two reapers laugh a little, despite their predicament.

Meanwhile on the outside of the overturned coach, William had made an attempt to slow the horse by grabbing their reigns and pulling on them rather unsuccessfully. The fact that they were a tangled mess didn't help at all and he was rather surprised to find himself getting somewhat irritated at the lack of response from the creatures. He could feel the wood beneath him splintering and getting left behind on the road with every step the horses took; soon there would be nothing left. As he pulled on them tighter in an attempt to stop them, he felt something warm on his cheek and cursed once again as he realised that it was the blood from the gash on his forehead. Still holding onto the reigns with one hand, he used the other to search around in his jacket and retrieve a handkerchief, which he held to the wound to stop the flow of blood that seemed to be getting heavier for some reason. With one hand, attempting to control the horses was proving to be even harder and he found that the carriage was now moving in a zigzag pattern as the horses started to move even more erratically.

Inside, Alan could feel himself beginning to slip, getting closer to the ground; just a bit further and he might have ended up getting dragged along it. As he was trying to pull himself up, the carriage jolted suddenly as it hit yet another rock in the road and Eric only just managed to grab onto the front of his shirt before hit the rough path below. Of course, by letting go, he also slipped down somewhat and the two were now hanging on for dear life as William still struggled above with the creatures.

"Wh...What about the tents?" Alan asked quietly, trying to take their mind off the situation. All of the movement had caused him to land in a rather inconvenient way, in that his chin was almost touching his chest and making his neck hurt a lot.

"What about them?" Eric asked while attempting to move into a better position in order to relieve some of the pressure on Alan's neck.

"Well I mean... we'll have to have somewhere to sleep tonight, and I don't much like the idea of sleeping outside... It's cold and it's dark-"

"Alan, if we get through this – which we will – we're not going to have to worry about sleeping arrangements, because we'll be going straight back to the division and complaining about all of this. Besides, there's no way we're staying all the way out here with your leg like that." He said, nodding at Alan's bleeding leg.

"But we'll need rest... It's pretty late, and I'm tired and-"

"And nothing." Eric said. "We'll be going back to the division tonight, even if I have to carry you all the way there myself."

"I'd rather you didn't..." Alan said, finally adjusting his head so that his neck didn't hurt as much. "Anyway, about the tents..."

"Forget the tents!" Eric said in disbelief – how could he be talking about tents in a situation like this?

"No, listen! Won't they all be angry that we lost their tents? It seems they're rather expensive..."

"For god sake, will you forget the tents? When they hear what happened to us, the least of their worries will be tents!" Eric said, irritated at Alan's seeming lack of care about what was happening. "We just need to remain calm, wait for William to stop the horses, and then we'll get out of here and go home, alright? We'll fix your leg and your neck if it's still sore and we'll just go back to the usual paperwork."

Alan just nodded and stared past Eric at the darkening sky above through the broken window frame.

Up above, William was still trying to stop the horses when he heard someone call his name. "Will!" shouted the voice, which he soon realised belonged to Grell, who had finally slowed down enough to run alongside their carriage. Grell manoeuvred the horses so that his carriage was almost parallel with the one on which William was sitting. "What happened to your head?" Grell asked, both surprised by not being corrected for calling him Will, and worried about the blood he saw.

"Don't worry, it was just some wood..." William said, removing the handkerchief to find that the flow of blood had finally stopped. He put it back into his pocket and held onto the reigns with two hands once more. "I can't seem to stop these things..." William said irritably.

"It's OK boss, I have an idea!" Ronald called out happily, opening the door of his carriage and standing on the ledge.

"Please let it be a good one!" Alan called up from the still steadily disintegrating carriage getting dragged along.

"It is!" Ronald said. He leaned out of the door slightly and called over to Grell. "Do you think you'd be able to speed up a bit so I'm closer to the horses?"

"It depends what you want to do..." Grell said, worried about causing yet more trouble. Ronald quickly explained that he intended to jump onto the back of one of the horses and try to control it in an attempt to get the other to stop. "I'm not sure if that's a good idea..." Grell said, looking to William for advice.

"I think it's worth a try, at least it might help a little." William said, moving back to leave enough room for Ronald to jump over. Grell thought about it for a moment before finally adjusting the carriage's position and allowing Ronald to jump rather elegantly over to one of the horses and pull himself onto it with ease. William and Grell just stared in amazement at his surprisingly good horse mounting skills before Ronald just laughed and explained to them both that he used to own a farm many years ago that owned a lot of horses. Despite his successful jump across though, the horse still refused to slow down, ignoring the frequent shouts and kicks from the reaper on top of it. Eventually he stopped trying and turned to William, who sat behind him on the side of the carriage.

"There's nothing for it, you'll have to cut the ropes." He said, pointing to the reigns and ropes connected to the horse.

"Are you out of your mind?" Said Grell "If he does that, you'll be riding a crazed horse bareback with no means of controlling it!"

"Don't worry about it, I'll be fine!" Ronald replied a bit too happily. "Besides, if one goes, the carriage will slow down and you'll be able to get those two out!"

"Indeed, our main concern here is Eric and Alan after all..." William said pondering the possibility of cutting the ropes.

"Why don't you just cut the ropes away and let the horses run off without riding them?!" Grell said, panicking about what would happen if Ronald rode off.

"Because, what's the fun in that?" Ronald replied "Besides, these horses are valuable creatures, we can't just lose them!" Ronald said, patting the black horse upon which he sat.

"A fair argument indeed." William said, suddenly severing the ties with his scythe and watching as Ronald sped off far ahead on the horse. The sudden absence of the horse caused the carriage to jolt and William almost fell off, saved only by grabbing onto the side of a wheel. Inside, the movement cause Alan to fall further this time landing on the ground and scraping his already injured leg against it. As he let out a cry of pain, William managed to reach down and pull Eric up, who in turn, also pulled Alan up and the two were suddenly sitting on the edge of a now much slower, but rapidly decreasing carriage. Grell was now, once again much farther ahead and the remaining horse was still running erratically. William looked back at the other horse and came to a decision.

"There's nothing else for it, I'll have to cut that one free too. The loss of just one horse doesn't really matter in the scheme of things." With that, he severed the remaining ropes and was about to go back over to the other two before he suddenly found himself being jerked from the carriage, his scythe tangled up in the reigns that remained on the horse. Eric and Alan stared in shock as they watched William get dragged away, holding onto his scythe for dear life as he tried to climb onto the horse's back and failed.

"William!" Grell cried as he saw him go past. The red reaper looked franticly back and forth between Alan and Eric on the now stationary carriage and William who was steadily getting further away. Suddenly, Eric grabbed Alan and started running towards the other carriage, despite Alan's protests for him to be put down because it was embarrassing being carried like this, as well as weird, but Eric didn't listen. Instead, he somehow managed to catch up with the moving carriage which Grell had managed to slow down somewhat and jerk open the door before practically throwing Alan inside before jumping in himself. "Get this thing going!" he shouted to Grell before propping Alan's injured leg up on one of the seats.

Further ahead, Ronald's horse was still galloping away, although he had now managed to gain at least some control. Eventually, they came to a turning, but rather than turn, the animal dashed headfirst into the thick forest in front of them before suddenly coming to a halt and causing Ronald to fall off. He stood up, dusting himself off and looked at the horse that had just stopped moving for seemingly no reason. Hesitantly, he reached out to touch it, but before he could, it let out an extremely loud whinny before collapsing to the ground in front of him. "What the hell?!" Ronald exclaimed, moving closer to the horse to see what had happened.

Back in the carriage, Alan's leg was starting to bleed heavily despite Eric using his tie to try and stop the blood by tying it above the cut. Grell was whipping the horses franticly in an attempt to catch up with William and was overjoyed when he finally saw a smudge of black in front of him. "I'm coming Will, don't worry!" he cried, whipping the horse faster and finally coming up behind William and the horse. From where he was sitting Grell could see that he was holding onto the animal's tail to try and avoid hitting the ground while also trying to somehow untangle his scythe. "William!" Grell said, finally moving closer so that William was parallel with the door to the carriage. "You need to let the scythe go! Let go and we'll be able to get you into the carriage!"

"Never!" shouted William in response. "A good reaper never loses their scythe, no matter the situation!" and with that, he finally managed to free it, still holding onto the tail of the beast.

"Just shows what determination can do..." Eric said, moving to open the door. To his surprise, he was quite close to William and he could see the panic on his face, despite the fact that he was trying to remain calm. "Just let go and I'll catch you!" Eric shouted over, moving closer.

"I...I'd rather not..." said William, his face reddening with shame at the thought of having to be saved by someone else. "I'm perfectly fine myself; I am a death god aftera-" he didn't get to finish because the horse suddenly reared up, making him lose his grip on it. As he prepared himself for the impact of the ground, he was surprised to find himself floating instead. Well actually, he had just been caught by Eric, who was holding onto William's collar and trying to pull him in. Eventually he managed to get him inside and slammed the door shut. William was quick to straighten himself up, adjusting his glasses and attempting to fix his wind-ruffled hair before sitting down next to Alan. "What happened to your leg?" he asked, trying to pretend nothing had happened.

"Everything..." Alan replied.

"Guys, look! It's Ronald!" Grell shouted and the three of them looked out of the window to see a rather nervous looking Ronald. Eric opened the door on the other side now and grabbed Ronald as they passed, taking him by surprise and causing to call out in anger.

"What did you do that for?!"

"Why do you think?" Eric asked, moving over so Ronald could sit down. Ronald just leaned out of the window and shouted over to Grell.

"Grell! You need to listen to me, we have to get out of here! There's something weird here! You need to-"

"It's alright Ronald!" Grell shouted back. "I'm going to start heading back to the division as soon as I can turn round!"

"No! You need to turn back now!" Ronald shouted desperately.

"What happened?" Asked William, interested at what was being said. "Where's the horse?"

Ronald took a minute before he replied very quietly. "It died."

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If people read this on here, I may upload the rest of the chapters~


	4. Chapter 4

"What do you mean it died?" William asked surprised at what Ronald had just said.

"I told you, it died. It ran into the forest and I fell off and... When I went to see if it was OK, it just fell over and died." Ronald replied quietly, trying to find a comfortable position to sit in.

"Perhaps it had a heart attack or something?" Alan theorised. "I mean, it had been running extremely fast after all and it seemed extremely distressed..."

"Maybe... What happened to your leg?" Ronald asked Alan, finally noticing that his leg was bleeding quite heavily.

"Why does everyone keep asking that?" Alan asked, half joking in an attempt to lighten the mood. "Anyway, it was scraped along the ground... a lot." He eventually explained.

"Oh. How's head?" Ronald asked William, noticing that there was still some dried blood on it.

"It's fine... It stopped bleeding ages ago." William replied, attempting to wipe some of it off.

A long silence followed after that and the four of them just sat looking out of the windows at the approaching darkness as Grell continued to try and find a place they could turn. Ronald had calmed considerably since his frantic shouts to turn around earlier, but only because he appeared to be in some sort of shock. As it began to get darker – and colder – outside, it soon became clear that there weren't going to be any turning points along the seemingly endless road. Three of the reapers in the carriage had by this time fallen asleep somehow, even Alan with his sore leg, yet William remained awake contemplating the situation. Eventually, he leaned out of the window and called up to Grell who had finally gained full control of the horses.

"How are you faring up there, Sutcliff?" He called, glad to feel the cool wind on his face.

"Not bad I suppose..." Replied Grell. "But I could really do with a rest..."

William thought for a moment before opening the door and climbing up to the driver's seat next to Grell. "I'll take over for a minute of you want..." He said, picking up some of the reigns. "Go and get some rest, we can take it in turns if it makes it any easier."

"Are you sure?" Grell asked, handing over the rest of the reigns. "These things are really hard to control..."

"I'm sure I'll manage." William replied, half kicking Grell out of the way so he could sit in the centre. "Go and get some sleep or something."

"...Is there even any room in there? I mean, Alan's leg –" Grell started.

"There's plenty of room, Sutcliff, don't think you can trick your way into sleeping next to me because it's not going to happen." said William irritably. He knew what Grell was up to. Eventually, Grell made his way into the carriage via the same route William had used to get up there. Of course, it mean having to crawl over William, but the dark haired reaper put up with it if it would mean getting Grell out of the way. After some fuss and a few mumbled complaints from a half asleep Eric, William was finally alone at the front of the carriage with the horses. He would have remained that way too, were it not for Grell coming back up just an hour later...

William was sitting fairly relaxed on the carriage looking for some way of turning around or at least trying to work out if the road would take them in a circle, when he suddenly felt a warm presence near him. He sighed before turning to his right and finding Sutcliff sitting there staring at him.

"Can I help you?" He asked him, trying to focus on the road ahead.

"I can't sleep... It smells of blood in there and it's very uncomfortable too."

"I thought you liked blood?" William asked, remembering the case with the Madam Red lady.

"Not when it's coming from my friends..." replied Grell, finally stopping staring at William and also looking at the road. "Besides, it's the colour I like best."

William just sighed again before turning to look at Grell once more. He looked extremely worn out and his eyes seemed to be red, either from lack of sleep or crying that he wasn't going to admit. "Fine then, you can stay up here, but no talking, stroking, hugging, whining, joking or anything else of the sort, understand?"

"Yes sir!" Grell said, pretending to zip his mouth and sitting with his arms folded.

"And none of that nonsense either. A simple yes would have been enough." William stated.

Half an hour later, Grell's silence was actually starting to get more annoying that if he had been speaking. Every time William looked over, he found Grell had been staring at him, but quickly looked away to pretend he hadn't been and eventually he spoke up. "What is it Sutcliff? Why do you keep staring at me?" His question was met by silence and eventually he realised why. "You're allowed to speak..." he sighed.

"Thank you~" Grell said, pretending to unzip his mouth. "I'm watching to make sure you don't fall asleep, it's the last thing we need after all"

"As if I would be foolish enough to do such a thing-" William began.

"You already have though, twice." Grell said, almost a bit too happily. "I've had to take control of the horses a couple of times without you even noticing~"

William was taken aback by the fact that he could have fallen asleep so easily. He rubbed his eyes for a moment before speaking. "Are you telling the truth?"

"Of course! I'd never lie to you~" Grell chimed. "But don't worry, now that I'm allowed to speak, I'll be sure to keep you awake, OK?"

"Alright..." William agreed. "Let's both agree to keep each other awake yes? That way nothing bad can happen."

"Deal!" Said Grell happily, going to hug William but stopping when he remembered the warning and realised that a fall from such a high, moving place could be dangerous. "Ahaha~"

William just looked back coldly and the two of them then just stared ahead at the road. As they went on, Grell could feel his eyes getting heavy, helped by the somewhat relaxing rocking of the carriage, but he knew William would wake him up, so he didn't worry about it...

Grell opened his eyes slowly as he wondered for a second where he was and what was happening. As he looked around, he quickly realised in horror that both he and William must have fallen asleep when they were meant to be controlling the horses. Sitting up quickly, he discovered that he was facing a tree into which the carriage had obviously crashed. He looked over at William to see that he was still asleep (or maybe knocked out?) and reached over to him, giving him a gentle nudge. "Hey...Are you alive over there? Wake up, we crashed..." Grell said. William opened and eye and stared at him.

"What?

"We fell asleep you idiot! I told you to keep me awake!"

William sat up and rubbed the back of his head where he had obviously banged it. "You're the idiot! You were meant to keep me awake!" He looked around. "Where are we?!"

"Some sort of forest it seems... A hot one too..."

"Well it is the 16th of June..." William said jumping down and making his way towards the carriage to see if everyone else was okay. Grell sighed and also jumped down. "Where are the horses?" William asked pausing and looking over towards the front.

"They're here..." Said Grell approaching them. "I guess I'll just wake them up and we can try and get out of here..."

"OK... I'm going to check on Ronald and the others."

"Right... William?"

"Yes?"

"Is it me or does something not seem right?" Grell asked as he hesitantly approached the horses, which were lying down.

"Of course it's not right, we just crashed for God sake!" he said making his way towards the carriage door once more. Just as he was about to open it he heard a small whimper from where Grell was standing. "Is something wrong?" He called, pulling back.

"I...I think you should come over here..." Grell said quietly.

"What is it?" Asked William making his way over.

"The...The..." Grell gulped. "I don't think we'll be going anywhere any time soon..."

"Why?"

"Push that horse over..." said Grell, pointing at the nearest horse.

"What?"

"Just kick it over or something..."

William approached the horse and did so to find that the entire underside of the horse had been eaten away. Maggots covered it everywhere and he could see right through to the horse's spine. He quickly turned away to vomit into a bush as Grell pushed the horse back over to avoid looking at it. "WHAT THE HELL?!" Screamed William after he managed to stop getting sick.

"I'd like to know the same thing..." Said Grell. "...Oh My God!"

"What?"

"Ronald! And Alan and Eric!" screamed Grell.

"Damn it!" Shouted William and they quickly ran over to the carriage and yanked the door open to find the other three still inside.


	5. Chapter 5

"Oh God, please let them be OK..." Grell begged as William opened the door of the now very broken carriage to find the others inside. Straight away, Grell could see that if they had gone just a little further, Eric would have been impaled by a branch from the tree. As it was, the point of the branch was only inches from his chest. During the collision, Alan had fell from the seat and was now lying on the floor of the carriage wedged between the two seats either side, rather horrifically covered in blood because of his leg. Ronald on the other hand seemed to have fared relatively OK, and was merely sitting slumped in the far corner, next to Eric; there was no telling if his face would be ok though as they couldn't see it – for all they knew he could have had no eyes or something.

William straight away snapped the branch and threw it away before proceeding to start pulling everyone out, helped by Grell. Eventually all three of them were lying on the ground at their feet – Ronald thankfully was seemingly unharmed – and after checking that everyone was OK, Grell and William started to contemplate what they should do next.

"I think we should wait until they wake up before trying to move them..." Grell said. "At least that way they'll be able to tell us where it hurts."

"But if they're asleep, they won't have to worry about the pain!" William was saying. "At least this way we can move them quickly-"

"And what if we cause more damage?!" Grell cried. "A-And besides, how do you even intend to move them in the first place?"

"We'll carry them if we have to! We can't leave them on the ground with all these maggots wandering around-"

"William, wait a minute." Grell suddenly said in a tone so serious it even surprised himself. "Look at Alan's leg." He said, pointing at the wound Alan had had on his leg.

"What about it?" Asked William.

"Can't you see? It's nearly gone!" Said Grell frantically.

"Well isn't that good?"

"Under normal circumstances yes, but doesn't it seem a bit strange to you? Your head as well, the wound is completely gone!" Grell said, rubbing William's head and getting his hand slapped away.

"We're reapers, we're meant to heal fast..." said William, but he too could tell something was not right.

"Even if that's the case, it doesn't explain..." Grell started.

"...How a horse could be completely eaten through within a couple of hours..." realised William. The two of them looked at each other in panic, unsure of what to do when Ronald suddenly gasped and sat up.

"Ronald!" they both cried happily, William losing his usually serious composure for a moment to go over and hug the blond reaper, something which surprised both Grell and Ronald immensely.

"Uh...N-Nice to see you too?" Ronald said, unsure of what to do. William quickly realised what he was doing and proceeded to stand up and adjust his glasses before clearing his throat.

"Ah. Yes. What I mean is, I'm glad that you're awake and not...dead?" William stopped speaking as the other two stared at him and he eventually just gave up and told them he was going to check on the other two.

"What happened?" Ronald asked Grell, as he stood up and stretched a little. Grell was glad to see that he was relatively unscathed by the accident and seemed to be in a good position to walk as far as need be.

"I'm not entirely sure myself..." Grell said, looking around. He was still trying to work out how the horses had gotten eaten so quickly and why Alan's wound had all but disappeared. Could it be that they'd been passed out for more than just a few hours? It was certainly looking that way and form the dryness of his mouth, he could tell that he hadn't had any water for quite a long time, with the intense heat of the forest not helping one bit. Grell took a quick moment to look at his surroundings. The forest had a generally yellow or orange hue to it and gave the impression of an old photograph but more vivid. There was little colour except brown and yellow and the grass beneath his feet seemed to be dead. The air around him was extremely hot and stuffy, typical for a day in the height of summer and he was finding it a little hard to breathe. Eventually, he focussed his attention on Ronald again, who was now helping a newly awakened Alan to sit up while William slapped Eric's face a bit to try and make him regain consciousness. There was something definitely wrong with this forest.

While William and Ronald were helping the others to wake up properly and William started to explain the situation, Grell made his way inside the carriage to see if any of their food and water supplies has survived. Although as supernatural beings they rarely needed to eat or drink, it was helpful to have some every now and then and Grell was feeling particularly thirsty right now. Being careful to avoid stray branches and holes, he retrieved the box of supplies and was disappointed to find it empty, save for a few empty bottles which had previously contained water. Considering the heat, he quickly came to the conclusion that it must have evaporated somehow, but placed the bottles inside his coat pockets anyway in case they came across a source of water.

Outside, everyone was now standing – although Alan was having to rely heavily on the support of the others because his leg was still sore – and trying to work out what they should do. "I think our top priority should be to bind Alan's leg up somehow" someone was saying. "The cut may have healed but it still seems broken."

"I agree." William said. "If we can adjust the bone now, it won't be as hard to fix it when we get home, and it might also help him to walk easier."

"Please just do something, it really hurts!" cried Alan with tears in his eyes as he tried to adjust his leg.

Grell looked around and found a long branch lying in the ground. "Um... What if you use this as a walking stick or something?" He asked, handing it to Alan who took it gratefully. "As for your leg... I'm sure I learnt somewhere once that if you put two bits of wood either side it would keep it straight or something..."

"That's not a bad idea..." Eric said, staring to look around for some flat-ish pieces of wood that could be used.

A few hours later, Alan now had what seemed like half a tree tied to his leg – with the help of both Eric and Ronald's tie as well as his own - and was using William's scythe as a walking stick because all the branches he used kept snapping. Having calmed down a little, the five of them were now walking along an overgrown dusty path in an attempt to come to an exit somewhere, preferably an edge of the forest near a road. They had tries following what they thought might have been the path of the carriage but had to change their plan when they came across a dead end. Right now, the path they were walking on dipped down on either side into ditches that were sheltered by bushes. Each of them had by now repeatedly checked themselves over for any sign of maggots or infection and were relieved to find that they were all OK. One of their main aims right now was also to find water and they were keeping a lookout for any signs of it but finding none.

As they walked, Grell couldn't help but notice how William seemed to stagger every now and then and seemed to be sweating a lot more than the others, but when he was asked about it, he just said he was fine and they should all quit staring at them. All too soon, the five of them had to sit down to rest, still surrounded by banks and ditches on either side. "I...I don't think I can walk anymore..." Alan said, rubbing his leg which he stretched out in front of him.

"It's OK, just a bit further..." Eric said, not very confidently. To tell the truth, none of them had the slightest idea how much further it might be and it almost seemed like they were walking in circles, or at least down an extremely long path.

William coughed a little. "We better find water soon or –" his sentence was cut off by the faint sound of rumbling close by.

"What's that?" Grell asked, looking towards the source of the sound. As they all looked towards the sound, they could see a cloud of dust forming and were able to make out the form of a carriage.

"It's a carriage!" cried Alan happily starting to wave his hands about. "Maybe they can get us out of here!"

"I don't think that's a good idea..." William said suddenly, standing up and forcing Alan to stop waving.

"What are you talking abou-"began Grell before he realised why William was so concerned. The coach drivers had no eyes. And their mouths were slip into an ominous grin that spanned far wider than any natural smile would. He too now stood up, swiftly followed by the others.

"What is that?!" Cried Eric as he saw the gaping holes where there should have been eyeballs. "Where are their eyes?!"

"That's not the worst part." William said as he looked closer at the impending monsters. "Look at their hair and their clothes." As they all looked, they realised in horror that the drivers were the spitting image of William and Grell, save for the terrible deformities, and as it got closer, they could see leaning out of the windows with similar horrific features monsters that looked like Eric and Alan. Cackling laughter filled the air as it drew closer and the four reapers suddenly found themselves running as it started to chase them. Despite Alan's protests, Eric has slung him over his shoulder and was struggling to keep up with the others as they ran along the endless path.

"It's catching up to us!" Cried Grell, trying to keep up. As it got closer, it seemed that there was no choice but to jump to the side in order to escape it.

"Roll into the ditches!" shouted William to the others as he began to feel the breath of the horses – which they had now discovered were rotting and half eaten away – on his neck. Without thinking he grabbed the nearest person and threw himself over the side into one of the ditches before rolling down it and blacking out.


	6. Chapter 6

William opened his eyes to find Grell kneeling next to him, slapping his cheek repeatedly in what seemed to be an attempt to get him to wake up. "Ah you're awake!" cried Grell, slapping William's cheek once more just to be sure.

"What on earth do you think you are doing?!" shouted William angrily, hitting the redhead's hand away and sitting up. His head was throbbing painfully and the fast movement only made him dizzy as he tried to stop himself from wobbling. "Ow..."

"What's wrong?" asked Grell worriedly.

"Nothing..." replied William, trying to take in his surroundings. The ground beneath him felt soft and he found that he was sitting on a pile of somewhat marshy leaves. "Where-" he began, starting to turn around but being stopped by Grell grabbing his shoulders.

"Please don't turn around..." Grell said quietly.

"Why not?" Asked William, still trying to stop everything around him from spinning,

"B-Because! Uh... j-just look at me instead!" said Grell, looking behind William and panicking.

"And why would I want to do that?"

"Just please don't turn round! Let's focus on getting out of this ditch OK? I'm sure the others must be looking for us right now..." said Grell, still with panic in his voice. Images of eyeless monsters and the sounds of laughter filled William's mind as he tried to remember what had happened. Eventually he remembered that he had jumped into a ditch to avoid the grotesque creatures, grabbing the person nearest to him, which – just his luck – happened to be Grell.

"Why do I always end up with you of all people..." William was muttering as Grell, finally trusting him enough not to turn around started try and climb out of the surprisingly deep ditch.

"I've been trying to climb out of here for at least fifteen minutes..." Grell was saying, ignoring the rather insulting comment. "It's a lot deeper than I thought it would be; the others have probably already wandered off trying to find another route... I wanted to as well, but I couldn't just leave you lying here, not to mention..." Grell trailed off, looking behind William again and suddenly trying to change the topic. "Ah s-so how's your head?"

"Why do you keep looking behind me like that?" Asked William suspiciously. As he breathed in, he could smell a strange aroma in the air, something familiar, yet he couldn't quite place it... the more he sniffed, the more he realised the place stank, but of what?

"What are you talking about silly? Ahaha..." Said Grell, still looking flustered.

"Don't treat me like I'm some sort of fool Sutcliff, you keep looking behind me and I want to know why." Said William angrily.

"I...Umm... I'm staring at you! Yes, I keep looking at you, you lovely handsome man~ Ha..." Grell stuttered trying to come up with an excuse.

"Right that's it, I'm turning around." William said before suddenly turning around before Grell could stop him.

"William, no!" Screamed Grell, but far too late.

In the ditch opposite, Ronald, Eric and Alan were all sitting up after waking up face down in the dirt. Eric was adjusting Alan's leg which had become untied slightly, and Ronald was sitting perhaps almost too calmly looking up at the sky.

"I wonder if William and Grell are OK?" Alan was asking, in-between wincing at the pain in his leg. He was starting to feel more annoyed about his injury rather than afraid though, as he realised he was constantly a burden to others, no matter what he did and his sore leg was just making this already difficult situation harder to deal with.

"I'm sure they will be." Ronald said. "I mean, they did survive a carriage crash after all."

"Yeah, but so did we..." Alan replied.

"Well to be fair, those two were ay the front, so I guess they must be pretty tough at least." Eric theorised. He finished fixing Alan's leg before looking up at the sky. "Now then, any idea how we get out of this ditch?"

"To be honest, our best bet would probably be to just walk along the forest floor and see if we can find a less steep way back up there." Ronald suggested, looking behind them at the flat ground which was surprisingly clear of the usual debris one would expect to see in a forest and was instead just covered with a thin layer of dead grass.

"But how would the other two find us?" Alan asked, standing up and using Eric – rather unwillingly – for support; it embarrassed him to have to rely on others all the time.

"Well it's likely that they're thinking the same thing, so we're bound to meet up eventually." Ronald said, also standing. "Besides, even if they just wait where they are, we can just go to them."

"What do you suppose those monsters were earlier?" Eric asked suddenly, remembering why they were in this ditch in the first place. "I mean, they had our faces... It was scary..."

"Probably best not to think about it." Ronald said bluntly.

"Come to think of it, I didn't see one of you, Ronald." Alan said, thinking back to the terrifying eyes faces he had seen – everyone had been there except Ronald.

It was probably inside the carriage then." Ronald replied. "Now come on, let's go before it gets dark."

"I don't think it's ever going to get dark here..." Said Eric, looking up. "The time and weather seems to be exactly the same as it was when we woke up..."

"Can we just get going?!" Ronald shouted, much to the other two's surprise – it was a rare sight to see Ronald so angry.

"Fine, fine, let's go..." Eric said, starting to walk and half dragging poor Alan behind him.

Back on the other side, William was staring at disbelief in what was in front of him, unable to move or even speak. "I told you not to turn around!" Cried Grell, trying to make William turn back. Eventually, the dark haired reaper unfroze and ran over to a corner to get sick again. Grell looked back at what William had just seen. Corpses. And lots of them. Both animal and human, grouped together until they formed a large mushy pile of blood and bone that stretched out as far as they could see, worms crawling amongst the pile them seem eerily alive, by causing it to pulse up and down. Suddenly William knew where he recognised the smell from – it was the smell of blood. And death. Grell tore his eyes away from the gruesome field of red and made his way over to William, who was trying to stop himself from getting sick again. "W-What..." William stuttered before puking once more.

"I tried to warn you... Why do you never listen...?" Grell said quietly, rubbing William's back. Every time he breathed in he could smell rotting flesh, a reminder of what was just a few paces away from them.

"What... are we... going to do?" William asked, with tears forming in his eyes after all the retching. He made his way back to where he has woken up and sat with his back to the vile things.

"The only thing we can do is try to get back up there..." Grell said, pointing at the top of the ditch. "...or walk through that." He said, pointing behind William.

"I think I'd rather die at the bottom of a ditch." William said, trying to erase the bloodied image from his mind and failing. As a reaper, he should be used to this, he thought, but for some reason this was just too much. The intense heat of the forest and the injury to his head weren't helping either.

"There are human shaped corpses in there..." Grell whispered, still staring behind William. "What do you think happened?"

"Probably the same that's going to happen to us... we'll remain trapped here and just die."

"B-But... We have the other three to rely on!" Said Grell, with uncertainty in his voice. "Maybe these people were alone!"

"And if the other three are in a similar situation?" asked William, trying to think of all possibilities but only making himself and Grell more afraid.

"Th-Then..." Grell thought for a moment. "Then we have each other?"

"How very romantic..." William said sarcastically. "So what if there's two of us? This place gets two bodies instead of one."

"Can't you at least try and give me a boost up to the side of the ditch? If I stood on you or something, I might be able to grab onto the edge..." Grell asked.

William thought for a moment before sighing. "Well I suppose anything is worth a try..." he said and made his way over to the side of the ditch.

After half an hour of trying, William and Grell were still no closer to escape and William was now very much exhausted after being stood on for so long. "I could really use some water..." he rasped, dropping Grell and closing his eyes as he sat down.

"I know, Will, I'm sorry..." Grell said, sitting up.

"I-It's William..." William said, serious despite the situation.

"Will –" Grell said suddenly.

"William."

"...William, look!" Shouted Grell, causing William to open his eyes. He looked over to what Grell was pointing at and was about to as what it was when he stopped short.

"The bodies..." He said eventually, eyes wide. "They're..."

"They're gone!" cried Grell. "Everything is just gone! It's..."

"It's just a normal forest floor..." finished William, looking at the grassy ground that had been covered in blood not so long ago.


End file.
